All Posts Tagged: organic SEO

In 2014, business owners are finding that they must execute swiftly, all at once, on a series of complex writing tasks to be successful with online marketing. With everybody going online to find products and services, business owners are shifting more and more of their marketing budgets to online marketing mediums.

The big problem facing business owners today is that, while 81% of consumers make buying decisions online, most still don’t understand how to make the incredible power of online marketing work for them. To stay competitive on the marketing battlefield, businesses are developing online marketing strategies that attract prospects’ attention, maintain their interest levels and maximum conversions.

Here are some shocking online marketing statistics that will help your business grow in 2014:

Social media is bigger than you think: The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project found that 73% of survey respondents actively use social media. Since Facebook alone has over one billion users, nearly all adults who are active on any social network at all are using Facebook. How does your Facebook strategy connect with them?

Email personalization works: Epsilon and DMA report that the click-through rate on triggered messages is 152% higher than “Business as Usual” messages. Email marketing and lead generation strategies need to integrate personalized and timely lead nurturing with marketing automation.

Mobile marketing is making waves: According to Litmus, email opens on smartphones and tablets increased 80% over just one six month period in 2012. With mobile usage increasing steadily, these devices are a major source of email communication. Email messages need to display properly on both laptop and mobile devices.

Online marketing isn’t going away: By 2016 Forrester Research predicts that more than half of the dollars spent in U.S. retail will be influenced by the web. If you don’t have a way to sell your product or service online, you could miss out.

Blogs build website traffic: According to HubSpot, nearly 40% of U.S. companies use blogs for marketing purposes. Companies that blog have 55% more website visitors.

Social isn’t just for the kids: FastCompany says the fastest growing demographic on Twitter are the 55–64 year olds. The 45–54 year olds are the fastest growing demographic on both Facebook and Google+. If your products appeal to an older demographic, you’d better have a social marketing strategy.

Competition is getting tougher: When it comes to SEO, SociallyStacked reports that 33% of traffic from Google’s organic search results goes to the first item listed. What is propelling your results to the top? 72% of PPC marketers plan to increase their budget in 2014. How will you stack up?

Many business owners find themselves arduously blogging with little traction. The main problem here is their web strategy lacks a ‘connected’ approach. A connected, well-rounded online marketing strategy over a one-year period will generate a positive ROI on a marketing campaign. It takes time and focus. There are dozens of zero-cost ways to build a business through the internet, and it is simply a matter of knowing how to tie them all together into a unique strategy.

Finding the time to setup, and execute on an internet marketing campaign is difficult for most business owners. Online marketing campaigns are fraught with challenges and seemingly insignificant, time consuming tasks. However, when considering the recent marketing statistics presented above, and the high cost of alternative forms of marketing, many business owners are finding online marketing costs a worthwhile investment.

— Taylor Reaume, is president of Search Engine Pros and a regular speaker on topics of online marketing and web strategy. He has created over 550 web sites since 1998, one which sold for six figures in 2007 to Jupiter Media. Taylor is Vice Chair of the Board at TVSB and an active member of several local non profits and foundations in Santa Barbara. He can be contacted at 805-453-9674. The opinions expressed are his own. Follow him on Twitter: @SantaBarbaraSEO.

NOOZHAWK – Santa Barbara business owners will have a unique opportunity to hear from local search marketing expert Taylor Reaume at the second annual Santa Barbara Business Expo.

The event will be held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Fess Parker’s DoubleTree Resort, 633 E. Cabrillo Blvd.

The Santa Barbara Business Expo brings together the brightest local business minds. Attendees will learn about the latest marketing trends, business tools, emerging web technologies and best practices in business. Speakers will provide valuable, practical insight about efficiency, purpose and direction.

Reaume is wearing several hats this year as the expo’s website designer, social media director and speaker.

“Attendees will benefit by expanding their network, and learning valuable tips to grow a business. I will be discussing how to rank your website on Google, which is largely a matter of adding value to those around you,” he said. “There are many ways to add value to those around you. For example, business owners can create educational top 10 list articles, sharing remarkable statistics and timesaving resources, and connecting their audience with trusted partners.”

Reaume’s presentation at the Santa Barbara Business Expo will be from 9 to 9:30 a.m., and will stress the importance of being a helpful resource on the web. He explains that adding value to people will naturally increase the numbers of hyperlinks, or “votes,” for the business owner’s website. If the business owner can successfully increase the number of hyperlinks pointing into their website each month, they will see a direct correlation with the increase in their search engine rankings.

As the founder of Santa Barbara-based web marketing company Search Engine Pros, Reaume and his team help business owners navigate the rocky terrain of online marketing, and communicate their unique strengths to a narrow and researched target audience.

“The R.O.I. is much higher when web marketing activities are synchronized and deployed consistently over a period of six months,” he said. “We keep our clients ‘top of mind’ every month with a professional web presence, which includes high touch email newsletters, SEO enhanced press releases, educational blog posts and entertaining social media status updates on Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter.”

In 2014, SEO (search engine optimization) has a broader definition that it did five years ago. To many, SEO encompasses web design, graphic design, press releases, blog posts, e-newsletters, list building and, in general, polishing your company’s web presence. Web marketing and social media have emerged as far more cost effective mediums for building a business today, according to a variety of sources.

The number of people making purchases online continues to increase, and the companies they find on the web are likely to be those with a fine tuned internet marketing strategy.

Are people spending more time on the internet than on TV?

The average time that consumers spend with digital media per day is expected to surpass TV viewing for the first time this year, according to research firm eMarketer, which estimates the average adult will spend more than five hours per day online, on mobile devices or with other digital media this year. By contrast, the average person will spend four hours and 31 minutes watching television, eMarketer estimates.

Volvo will spend up to 50 percent more on marketing in 2014 than it did last year and will shift more of that money to digital, said Bodil Eriksson, who was appointed to the new post of executive vice president for marketing, effective Jan. 15, 2014.

Other shocking statistics worth reviewing:

» Email opens on smartphones and tablets have increased 80 percent over the last six months, according to a study done by Litmus.

» Companies that blog 15 or more times per month get five times more traffic than companies that don’t blog (Source: HubSpot)

Reaume encourages business owners to stop by his booth at Santa Barbara Business Expo this Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., and book a lunch date by connecting on hispersonal Facebook page or calling 800.605.4988. You can follow Reaume’s blog,Google+, and get helpful SEO tips from his Facebook fan page.